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They plugged the damn hole. Great news. Now let's move onto cleanup. I think it would be great for the Obamas to pay another Gulf visit, munch on Gulf Coast seafood, and urge tourists to help salvage some of the summer season.

Of course this is a turning point - that BP spill cam was the most famous screen-splitter since since OJ's bronco. Contrary to some who say transparency hurt President Obama (see POLITICO's How Obama Loses by Winning), I think the BP spill cam helped more than it hurt both the president and BP. Without the BP spill cam, would Democrats have been able to secure a BP claims fund and a canceled dividend? I think not. A big reason BP agreed to those conditions was because as long as all eyes were on the gusher there was no way BP could credibly offer dividends or delay claims payments. Both the president and BP knew that the public could see the challenges for ourselves and expected strong performance in response. Imagine if there was no BP spill cam - we would have to take their word for what was going on. Show of hands - who would believe them? As we go forward in getting more information released, I think we have a new standard of openness - the health and safety data must be as transparent as the BP spill cam.

Ultimately, the lesson in this moment for politicians and companies is to risk the hits that come with unblinking 24/7 scrutiny. We also saw this with Wall Street reform - Democrats making the conference public didn't mean major Nielsen ratings for C-SPAN but it did restore confidence that we could see what was going on with this major legislation if we wanted to. As voters we have gone from hope elections and fear elections to trust elections. In deciding on candidates and institutions, we want to invest our votes and our resources into people and parties that treat us like grownups and trust us to see them making the big choices we empower them to make.

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